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Tarot was putting her hiding skills to good use. Not only had she ducked away from Sev (again), she also had to avoid some guys in suits that seemed to think it was wrong for a child to be on her own. One of them had been particularly upset that she was touching some of the stuff behind the fuzzy velvet ropes (a good half foot above her head.)

But really, everything in here was just so interesting! Tarot had never seen so many things in one place that had so many stories to give to her. She'd seen things ranging from hot desert sands to freezing days with no sun in the sky to streamy jungles. There was lots more to see too, since there was a lot of stone stuff just sitting around. Seriously, why was it out here instead of behind glass if they didn't want people touching?

Tarot's current location was full of stones. Big, giant ones, shaped like people, or animals, or people mixed with animals. The whole place whispered of warm lands with sand everywhere.

She was peering from behind one statue at a glass case across the hall. This one contained those clear, colored stones that liked to give pictures and advice. They were behind glass, so no touching, but maybe if she got close enough she could still get some of them to talk to her.

It helped that another girl had moved over to stand in front of the case as well. No one questioned little kids being on their own if they were with bigger kids! And so Tarot came out from behind the statue, giving it a fond pat before crossing the hallway.

Hmmm, well this was interesting. Not many things could distract Tarot when she was on a set course, but the pair of pure black eyes that glanced in her direction could do it. Black wasn't that unusual to her, Quint had black and blue eyes. But these eyes were completely dark.

Tarot had made it to the other side of the hall now. She did give the case a glance, but the pretty rocks weren't going anywhere. The girl might. "Why's y'r eyes all black?" Yup, just dive right into questions. She knew what manners were, Sev had taught them to her. It was just that manners seemed to get in the way a lot.

Tarot considered this. She supposed it was a proper answer. After all, Faris had said the same thing about her wings and tail. She'd even used the answer herself when people asked her about the stripes on her skin. Once they could spot them, that was. They were only a shade lighter than her skin, though lately they'd begun to darken every so slightly. Still hard to spot though.

With the girl's question it was Tarot's turn to go on the defensive. "Listenin'" she said, shrugging nonchallantly as though she had every right to be where she was, with no parents or nothin'. "All th' rocks 'n' met'l 'n' stuff has bunches ta say."

Tarot nodded. "Yea, lots and lots! S'me of it'll just talk w'out havin' to ask firs'." She frowned a little. Couldn't everyone do that? She pulled a piece of quartz from her pocket. It was one of her favorite crystals. It told her of it's days under the earth before massive amounts of heat and pressure forced it to the surface. Then water had carried it far across the land and up into a smaller channel of water, which was were Tarot found it.

The rock loved telling it's story though. Tarot lightly put a tiny hand under the girl's to lift it a bit, and pressed the quartz against her palm with the other. "Can' you hear it," she asked, looking into those blacks eyes curiously. She had to be able to hear it, right?

Tarot frowned and released the girl. Initating or maintaining contact of any kind was rare for her, but sometimes she found it was the best approach to get a message across. This time was chalked up as a failure though.

"Sev can' hear 'em either," she said, voice small as she looked at the happy little crystal in her hand. "I though' i' was jus' him, cause he's Sev." Now that Tarot thought about it, no one she knew seemed to be able to hear rocks talk. Granted not all of them had anything to say, and some you really had to listen for, but she thought maybe people just weren't doing it right or something.

Tarot's tiny fist clenched around the crystal and she looked up at the girl, feeling a little lost with her new-found revelation.

Tarot nodded and shrugged a little when the girl asked if Sev was her father. She guessed he technically was, though his role seemed to morph between father and mother a lot.

When the girl asked if Tarot could tell her what the rocks were saying, that brought a frown to her face. Tell her? She'd never tried that before. Rocks seemed to speak in a language all their own, and sometimes it painted a very difficult-to-understand picture. She looked back down in at the crystal in her hand, then back up at the girl.

"I c'n try," she said doubtfully. It would take some seriously listening, but maybe she could get something that would make sense. First she had to get a question of her own answered. "W'as y'r name?"

"'M Tarot," she responded. Good, names were out of the way. On the off chance Sev showed up and found her that was one less thing for him to nag at her about. Now, for the issue with trying to figure out how to translate what the rocks were saying.

She decided to go with the crystal in her hand, being as it was the thing she knew best. She opened her hands again to bring the quartz back to light. "W'll, th's one here w's made in lo's 'n' lo's of heat. Like super lo's! Th'n it was in water f'r a looooooong time, al'ays movin' 'round. The water changed, and it w's only th're f'r awhile afore I found it!"

Hmmmm, that wasn't bad she guessed. Maybe it wasn't an awesome bit of history, but it was more than you got by just looking at the thing.